Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/183

 east and

west—all of which have traversed their whole length through a rich and fertile country, and, in many places, we might say, bounded with beautiful and luxuriant meadows, encircled with the lofty fir, and interspersed with beautiful groves of oak. But to describe the Willamette i... s descent, time and space will not permi... t o enter minutely either into a de scriptio... the rive... the country adjoining. On arriving near the Falls, “the river spreads out into a wide, deep basin, and runs slowly and smoothly until within a half a mil... the Falls, whe... s velocity increases... s width diminishes, eddies are formed... which the water turns bac... i f lot... make the plunge; bu... forced forwar... the wate... the rear,and when still nearer... breaks upon the volcanic rocks scattered across the channel, and then... i f resigne... ... fate, smooth... s agitated surges, and precipitates dow... almost perpendicula... twenty-five feet, presenting a somewhat whitened column.” The rising mist... a pleasant day, forms... the ray... the sun, a beautiful bow—the whole forming a sight, the grandeu... which ha... b e see... b e appreciated. Below the falls, for the distanc... half a mile, the chan ne... the rive... confine... ledge... basaltic rock... about two hundred yard... width. About one mile below the falls enters the Clackamas river from the east, which take... s rise near Mount Hood, on... the perpetual snow peak... the Cascade mountains. Here are the Clackamas rapids, another obstacl... the navigatio... the Willamette; but the diffi culties here presented ar... minor importance—at almost any stag... water, the boat... the Hudson Bay Company ascend and descend with but little difficulty. From this plac... the mout... the Willamette, a distanc... twenty-five miles, navigatio... good... the tide run... t o the foo... the Clackamas rapids. The Willamette, runnin... s whole course from sout... north, enters the Columbi... about latitude 46 degs... min. north, longitude 122 degs... min.